VISUND

An unprecedented level of investment in multi-deck vehicle carriers is being driven by tonnage replacement and scale economy strategies, but emphatically also by explosive growth in China’s automotive exports.Global deep-sea automotive shipments, excluding the Russian trade, were estimated at some 15.6 million units in 2025, up 5 percent on 2024, maintaining recent years’ trajectory. China’s inexorable rise as a producer and exporter is the conspicuous influence on traffic development.Notwithstanding the impacts of sometimes fraught political relations between the USA and China, and between Europe and China, and the prevailing Middle East conflict

Spanish shipyard GONDAN Shipbuilders has launched a 120-metre Ocean Energy Support Vessel (OESV) for Østensjø Rederi, the largest vessel built by the shipyard to date.The C513 OESV was launched at GONDAN's Figueras facility and will now undergo final outfitting and sea trials ahead of scheduled delivery in late 2027.Designed by Salt Ship Design, the vessel has a beam of 23 meters and is intended for operations including walk-to-work personnel transfers, commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) support for offshore wind, offshore construction, subsea installation, ROV inspection and cable laying and repair.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Friday reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, potentially tightening their grip on one of the world's vital shipping routes and further increasing the threat to energy markets in the widening Middle East war.Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.

Deep in Arctic waters near the remote Svalbard archipelago this spring, NATO allies caught Russian subs training to unleash a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving any fingerprints.The clandestine Russian operation, described to Reuters by two Western officials, was carried out by Moscow's GUGI undersea warfare directorate, which used deep-sea submersibles to simulate the deployment of the sophisticated and destructive technology.A joint operation involving Britain, Norway and the United States tracked and confronted the Russian vessels at sea, said the two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Sault Historic Sites, Captain John P. Wellington Great Lakes Marine Hall of Fame, recognized the significant contributions of James H.I. Weakley, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) on Friday, September 11th in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.The award is given every other year alternating between U.S. and Canadian nominees.  The complete list of previous awardees can be found here.Jim Weakley has served as LCA President for almost 25 years leading the U.S.-flagged fleet on the Great Lakes through advocacy, Congressional engagement, and public awareness.